Universal dynamics of a soliton after an interaction quench

Abstract

We propose a new type of experimentally feasible quantum quench protocol in which a quantum system is prepared in a coherent, localized excited state of a Hamiltonian. During the evolution of this solitonic excitation, the microscopic interaction is suddenly changed. We study the dynamics of solitons after this interaction quench for a wide class of systems using a hydrodynamic approach. We find that the post-quench dynamics is universal at short times, i.e. it does not depend on the microscopic details of the physical system. Numerical support for these results is presented using generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation, relevant for the implementation of the proposed protocol with ultracold bosons, as well as for the integrable Calogero model in harmonic potential. Finally, it is shown that the effects of integrability breaking by a parabolic potential and by a power-law nonlinearity do not change the universality of the short-time dynamics.